TREASURE hunters have been encouraged to seek the fragments of a meteor that is believed to have fallen on Irish soil.

Astronomy Ireland (AI) said that valuable parts of space rock could be found after a fireball was visible across the night sky on Monday. However, the fragments are extremely difficult to locate.

In the last century, only two instances of meteoritical material were recorded in Ireland, in 1969 and 1999, with parts of the latter, found in Co Carlow, allegedly being sold for $500 (€347) per gramme.